Dallas at Minnesota (March 3)
Dallas was again without Steve Nash due to the stomach flu and they had
played the night before, and it showed big time in this game. Add to
that the facts that Minnesota had suffered a tough loss against
Philadelphia (without Allen Iverson playing) and had a day off and it
looked like it was going to be a long night for Dallas. It was. The
Mavs missed their first 10 shots to open the game and Minnesota went up
8-1 with 8:20 left. The Mavs finally made a bucket 4 minutes into the
game. Dallas did go on an 11-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Marquis
Daniels, to pull within 11-12 with 6:25 remaining. But Dallas was unable
to pull ahead and Minnesota scored the next 9 points to go up 21-11 with
4:10 to go. Minnesota's lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the
quarter. Minnesota led 34-23 after 1. Kevin Garnett had 13 points and 7
rebounds. Minnesota led 40-27 with 10:25 remaining and Dallas went on a
13-2 run to pull within 40-42 with 7:50 to go. Dallas was again unable
to pull even or ahead, but Minnesota was unable to get their lead larger
than 7 points. Minnesota led 67-62 at the half. Though Dallas was
playing better in the 2nd quarter, it still wasn't a pretty game.
Garnett did calm down after his monster 1st quarter and only had 4 points
and 1 rebound in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Minnesota was shooting
65% FG and Dallas was shooting just 42% FG. The Mavs were staying in the
game with rebounds as they out-rebounded Minnesota 27-20 and the Mavs had
14 offensive rebounds. Neither team could score to open the 3rd quarter
as the teams combined to miss their first 6 shots. Scott Williams left
the game very early in the quarter with a slight left thigh contusion and
did not return. Minnesota led 73-68 with 7:45 left and consecutive
3-pointers by Latrell Sprewell started an 18-3 run, also ended by a
3-pointer by Sprewell, to give Minnesota an 86-70 lead with 4:50
remaining. Minnesota scored the last 4 points of the quarter to go up
97-78 after 3. Sprewell scored 13 points in the 3rd quarter. A
3-pointer by Wally Szczerbiak gave Minnesota their first 20+ point lead
at 104-82 with 9:50 to go. The night got worse for Dallas as Antawn
Jamison tweaked his right ankle and left the game. Dallas pulled the
plug a short time later as Michael Finley sat (Dirk Nowitzki never played
in the 4th). For some reason (maybe try to give the newly returned
players time together with their teammates), Minnesota kept their stars
on the court until Garnett and Latrell Sprewell were replaced with 2:35
left [I never agree with playing the stars in garbage time - the risk of
injury is not worth any benefit]. Minnesota won easily 121-97.
It would have been a tough game with Steve Nash, and it was harder
without him. You can squeak by with a win vs a lesser team when missing
one of your top players, but against the elite teams it is very hard to
do and Minnesota came with their A game this night and made it impossible
(and Dallas did not play sharp). In addition to missing Steve Nash,
Dallas' defense was really lacking and the Timberwolves had lots of easy
looks inside and open looks outside. They took advantage of what Dallas
was giving them and shot well throughout the game. Minnesota shot 55.2%
(48-87) FG including a white hot 11-21 3-pointers while Dallas struggled
throughout and finished shooting 36.1% (39-108) FG including 2-10
3-pointers. After scoring 39 points in the 2nd quarter, Dallas only
scored 35 points in the 2nd half as they shot just 14-48 FG.
Surprisingly, Dallas actually out-scored Minnesota in the paint 52-46.
Dallas also had a slight rebounding edge at 53-52 including 24-9
offensive - not many offensive rebounds needed when you are shooting well
and there were lots of offensive rebounds available for Dallas to grab.
The only thing Dallas did slightly well was controlling the ball as they
had just 8 turnovers - but Minnesota also played a clean game and had 10
turnovers. In a quirk with the schedule, Dallas was on the 2nd game of
back-to-back each time the Mavs played Minnesota this season. The teams
split the series 2-2 with the home team winning each game. Next is
another tough one at San Antonio on Friday night - though the Spurs maybe
without Tim Duncan (he is eligible to be activated from IR at any time
right now). Steve Nash is joining the team in San Antonio and is listed as
probable for the game.
Minnesota had 3 players with 20+ points. Not surprisingly, Kevin Garnett
led the way with 28 points including 11-15 FG and 19 rebounds. He was so
hot that he even made 2 3-pointers. Latrell Sprewell and Troy Hudson had
the hot hands outside. Sprewell had 20 points including 4-7 3-pointers, 7
rebounds, and 5 assists. Hudson had 22 points including 4-9 3-pointers
and 7 assists. Sam Cassell had a quiet 8 points on 4-10 FG, but did have
10 assists. As the Mavs tried to focus on Garnett, Michael Olowokandi
took advantage with 8 points in the 1st quarter. He finished with 14
points including 6-7 FG, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Wally Szczerbiak
chipped in 10 points off the bench.
None of the Mavs had a good game - only Danny Fortson (3-5 FG) shot 50%
or better. Marquis Daniels had a good line until you looked at his
shooting. He had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, but shot 7-21 FG
(by far the most shots attempted for the Mavs - and even more than any of
the Timberwolves) and played a game high 42 minutes. Daniels came off
the bench as Josh Howard returned to action. But Howard had a poor start
and got an early yank. He only had 4 points on 2-7 FG, but did have 7
rebounds including 4 offensive in his 21 minutes. Michael Finley had 16
points including 6-15 FG, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had a
poor outing with 15 points including 5-13 FG and just 3 rebounds. He did
have 4 assists. Antoine Walker also played poorly with 11 points
including 4-12 FG, 4 rebounds, and 3 turnovers. Shawn Bradley actually
played decent with 12 points on 6-13 FG (he even had a dunk in garbage
time) and 8 rebounds including 4 offensive. Antawn Jamison had 9 points
including 4-11 FG and 5 rebounds. He doesn't think his ankle injury is
serious and hopes to play Friday.
Quotes
Flip Saunders: "We had good energy. We pushed the heck out of the ball
down the floor. That's something we didn't do in Philadelphia. We got
back to what we do well. We rebounded the ball better and shared the
basketball. Overall, we played at a high level. This was a big game.
They were up 2-1 on us this year. This was big in terms of the
tiebreaker. Now they go 4 1/2 behind us [in the standings] and down 4
in the loss column. Any time you have a game against a Western
Conference team or a division team, it's a huge game."
Saunders on Olowokandi: "He has more pop in his step. He was lively and
played really well. He had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks. ...
They're very aware of KG, Spree, Sam, and Troy on the floor. They left
him alone in 1-on-1 situations on the block. Gradually, he's becoming
more comfortable with his game. The time when they did come and trap
him, it left Spree wide open for a 3. If he keeps making shots and they
elect to pressure him, it's going to open more things up. Tonight more
of our 3s were pretty wide open. That's a sign of moving the ball
well."
Saunders: "[Nash not playing] makes a huge difference. He puts a lot
of pressure on you. They were in a situation where Daniels took the
most shots for them. That's probably never going to happen again. It's
still a tough game without Nash. They are playing well and have won 19
of 23. They're playing with a lot of confidence and they still have
Nowitzki and Finley that can carry the team at any time."
Kevin Garnett: "We played well. I felt like for the most part we were
aggressive. Flip wanted us to come out aggressively against these guys.
We felt like they don't really have a presence inside. He really
stressed to us, even in practice yesterday, to pound the ball inside,
pound the ball inside. And that's what we did. On the defensive end, we
were just as aggressive. We didn't really trap. We all took the
challenge individually and said, 'Let's try to guard our man straight
up.' I think we are designed to go inside-out. ... When we execute
that and get that into a nice flow and everybody touches the ball, it
makes a big difference."
Garnett: "It was definitely a cleansing. We were totally embarrassed in
Philly. Yesterday was a very heated practice and we got after it. That
carried over to tonight."
Garnett on the Philly game: "We came in and watched film yesterday and it
was like, 'What the hell am I doing? Is that me?' ... We were like,
'Wow!' We just looked awful. [In practice] the competitive juices were
flowing. I can definitely label it a cleansing, because we were
embarrassed in Philly."
Garnett: "I think the focus is on being aggressive. The aggressiveness
that you come out with can be established in every game. ... Energy is
probably one of the hardest things to create in this league, but somehow
you find a way. ... Consistency. 8 out of 10, or 9 out of 10.
Striving for that is what you try to do. I think this is a message, not
just to Dallas but to whoever watched the game tonight. Whoever watches
our games and anticipates playing us. We're a hungry team."
Garnett: "This is a message, not just to Dallas but to whoever watched
the game and whoever anticipates playing us. We're a hungry team. When
we're on our P's and Q's, like we were tonight, you're in trouble."
Sam Cassell on Dallas missing Nash: "We've played 40-something games
without our guys. You won't get any sympathy from us. You're preaching
to the choir right now about injuries."
Latrell Sprewell: "That's a lot of talent on this team. You never know
who's going to come out and get it going good. Kandi and Kevin had us
early in the game and I was able to knock down shots for us in the 3rd and
push the lead up for us. It was a good quarter. They're an up-and-down
team and we're an up-and-down team. And it was just that tonight. ...
We did a good job defending them, but they had 14 offensive rebounds in
the 1st half. They were getting way too many offensive rebounds."
Troy Hudson on the Philly game: "We couldn't believe it when we saw it on
tape how slow we were moving. Tonight we wanted to force the issue and
exploit every scoring opportunity we had."
Michael Olowokandi: "It's one of those games you want to be part of. You
know the game is going to be up-tempo. You get the ball, kick the ball
out, and you're off to the races."
Don Nelson: "They outplayed us, they beat us, they deserved to win. We
really struggled in the 2nd half. At least it was decided early so I
didn't have to play my main guys into the 40-minute [range] again. We've
been playing a lot of minutes lately, so that was about the only good
thing that happened tonight. They were definitely ready. I think they
were a little embarrassed in Philadelphia, when they lost a game they
probably shouldn't have. The schedule maker [gave us] a back-to-back
every time we played them. That's just the way it kind of worked this
year. That was definitely a factor. But they were good. They shot
55%, we shot 35 or 37. You're not going to win that game."
Nelson on reviewing the game: "It's forgotten already. I'm not going to
think about it. I'm not going to watch the film. We're done with them.
We'll crank up the old film if we face them in the playoffs. ...
Minnesota is really good. They're as good as anybody. They're having a
super year, starting to get some of their main guys back. ...
Olowokandi is definitely a 7-1 center and when he is playing at his best,
he'll be factor for them. Szczerbiak, the same thing."
Nelson: "I thought we were a little bit lucky to even be hanging around
at halftime. I thought we were outplayed at halftime and the numbers
were way in their favor. But I actually felt pretty good about being
down 5 when they were shooting 65% and we were shooting 40 or 35 or
whatever it was. I said, 'Wow.' But it got away from us, and that'll
happen."
Dirk Nowitzki: "We had a good 2nd quarter, especially offensively, but
it's kind of hard to win that game if we don't play any defense. They
had almost 70 points at half. That puts a lot of strain on your offense
when they come down and score every time - getting dunks and layups -
and we have to go down and take tough shots. In the 3rd quarter, it
just caught up with us and they pulled away."
Nowitzki on missing Nash: "You can make excuses all you want, but I
think we're talented enough to compete at a high level, especially
defensively. Of course we miss Steve pushing the ball and putting
pressure on the opposing point guard, but hopefully he'll meet us in San
Antonio. But we're still talented enough to be able to win this game
without him."
Nowitzki on the division race: "We're right there with everybody else.
Even Minnesota is only 4 or 5 games ahead. We still have to believe
we're in the division race. Last year, we were up 4 or 5 games at this
time."
Antawn Jamison: " We were slow to contest shots and we weren't moving
with a sense of urgency like we have been the last 5, 6 games. Not to
make excuses, but you can tell we were coming off a back-to-back
tonight. But that's what a playoff caliber team like Minnesota is
supposed to do. They're supposed to take advantage of that, and they
did a good job of running the floor and making it difficult for us."
Jamison: "When you have Wally coming off the bench and Troy Hudson, those
guys should be starting. So you have some weapons coming off the bench
really making a difference. I expect them to lead the league in bench
scoring the rest of the season."
Jamison: "That's just our luck. We can't get it going offensively or
defensively, and [Garnett] really stretched the defense knocking down
those 3-pointers. I don't think it's any secret. The guy is the best
player in the league. You take him away from this team and they are not
the same team. He's the MVP and it's well deserved. I thought he
should of gotten it last year."
Jamison on his ankle: "For a few minutes after it happened, I couldn't
go on. After I iced it for a while, it seemed better. But this is the
3rd time it's happened in a week. We'll have to see how it feels."
Josh Howard: "We were doing a great job and then we let it slip away.
They played great defense and knocked down shots as well. When things
like that happen, the score ends up like it did today."
Howard: "They jumped on us and we didn't fight back. This, hopefully,
is just a little glitch in our run."
Scott Williams: "We had put together a nice little 6 game winning
streak, and this was a lesson game for us old guys and young guys. When
you come into an opponent's den that has the top record in the [Midwest
Division], you have to find it within yourselves to put together a more
controlled game. I think our game was a little bit loose out there
defensively and offensively. We have to tighten that up down the
stretch here."
Williams: "It definitely puts a little pressure on us these next 2 ball
games, but we've been playing good basketball. This was one of those
games. It was a late night getting in, we weren't completely focused on
our game plan, and we thought we could just turn it on like we did
against the Sonics. This team is a lot better than the Sonics,
especially fresh."
Minnesota Timberwolves 121, Dallas Mavericks 97 at Minnesota (March 3)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Minnesota 34 33 30 24 - 121 .561 .524 .552 .778
Dallas 23 39 15 19 - 97 .378 .200 .361 .810
Halftime: Minnesota 67-62
3rd Q: Minnesota 97-77
Technicals: Minnesota defensive 3 seconds 9:33 1st, Latrell Sprewell
8:23 2nd, Minnesota defensive 3 seconds 6:21 2nd
Refs: Bernie Fryer, Gary Benson, Ted Bernhardt
Attendance: 19,006 (sellout)
Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (stomach virus)
Minnesota Timberwolves REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Latrell Sprewell 39 8-17 4-7 0-0 20 1-7 5 2 1 1 0
Kevin Garnett 36 11-15 2-2 4-4 28 1-19 4 3 0 1 1
Michael Olowokandi 24 6-7 0-0 2-2 14 1-5 2 0 4 1 4
Trenton Hassell 30 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 4 0 2 0 0
Sam Cassell 24 4-10 0-1 0-0 8 0-2 10 0 2 0 0
Troy Hudson 29 9-19 4-9 0-0 22 0-4 7 2 1 0 0
Wally Szczerbiak 20 4-7 1-1 1-2 10 1-2 0 1 1 1 0
Mark Madsen 16 2-2 0-0 2-4 6 2-4 0 0 2 0 0
Gary Trent 16 2-3 0-0 4-4 8 3-6 0 1 2 0 0
Oliver Miller 3 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 1 0 0 0 0
Ervin Johnson 3 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 48-87 11-21 14-18 121 9-52 33 10 15 4 5
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Dirk Nowitzki 28 5-13 0-3 5-5 15 0-3 4 0 3 2 0
Antoine Walker 27 4-12 1-3 2-3 11 2-4 3 3 1 0 0
Scott Williams 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0
Michael Finley 27 6-15 0-3 4-4 16 2-5 5 1 0 1 0
Josh Howard 21 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 4-7 2 0 0 0 0
Shawn Bradley 18 6-13 0-0 0-0 12 4-8 0 1 2 0 1
Marquis Daniels 42 7-21 1-1 1-2 16 3-7 8 0 1 0 0
Antawn Jamison 23 4-11 0-0 1-1 9 3-5 2 0 1 0 1
Danny Fortson 22 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 3-10 0 2 4 1 1
Eduardo Najera 17 2-6 0-0 3-4 7 2-2 1 0 1 1 0
Tony Delk 10 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 39-108 2-10 17-21 97 24-53 26 8 14 5 3
patricia